World Premiere at The Oslo Opera Festival

THE WAVES

A Chamber Opera In Two Acts

Libretto by Tamsin Treverton Jones

Music by Louis Mander

Directed by Einar Bjorge

A spellbinding new opera adapted from Virginia Woolf’s literary masterpiece.

Crafted by the award-winning British composer, Louis Mander, with an exquisite

libretto by Tamsin Treverton Jones, and directed by Einar Bjorge, this is the first

time that Woolf’s poetic meditation on friendship, identity and the transience of

human life has been adapted for opera. Events unfold over the course of a symbolic

day, sunrise to sunset, as we follow the parallel lives of six friends from childhood

through adulthood into old age.  

As Bernard prepares for an evening with his oldest friends, his mind wanders back

to their childhood, remembering how they first met in a nursery, with a garden and

a path down to the sea. Later, as they gather at a London club, old rivalries

resurface, but the friends remain forever bound by their shared memories and

experiences. Together, they mark a painful anniversary - the premature death of

their dear friend, Percival, which has prompted each of them, in their own way, to

search for answers to human existence. It is left to Bernard to conclude that there is

no holy grail, and no alternative to living, but to fight death until the very end.

CAST & CREATIVES

Bernard | William Stevens Baritone

Louis | Daniel Bell Tenor

Rhoda | Pauline Aase Soprano

Neville | William Diggle Tenor

Jinny | Hannah Edmunds Soprano

Susan | Mae Heydorn Contralto

Piano | Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos

Conductor | Louis Mander

Director | Einar Bjorge

Produced in Association with Opera Festival, Oslo 2024 and Gjoril Songvol